by Tanya Aldred
3rd Test, Trent Bridge
Friday, August 3, 2001

It was going to be a fairytale. The sky was sapphire-blue, Tudor had reclaimed the throne and the vox populi outside the gates was gunning for Aussie meltdown. Optimism draped itself round every English supporter like bubblewrap.

But the morning after the night before is always soggy. And, try as they might, the crowd just couldn't rouse themselves to the same crescendo. Caddick was applauded as he wandered down and took his place by the boundary rope under the Ratcliffe Road Stand. Tudor was roared in for his first over from the Pavilion end. But the roar was that of a second-hand jalopy heading down a bumpy road, it wasn't last night's swanky red Mercedes with a full tank of petrol on an empty autobahn. And neither Caddick, who feeds off adrenaline, nor Gough was able to fire at full throttle.

As the eighth-wicket stand between Gillespie and Gilchrist grew to become an Australian record at Trent Bridge, even the heads of the fake flowers in the window boxes round the ground started to droop in sympathy for England. This was too cruel. Gilchrist cut, slogged, pulled, had some luck and passed fifty for the third consecutive time this series. He was turning into Steve Waugh, 1989 model. Would he ever get out?

Then Tudor came back for his second spell of the morning and the game turned again. The Australian lead was in single figures. Hope, kindly provided on tap by the ECB, was being drunk by the gallon at lunchtime.

Tanya Aldred is Wisden Online's assistant editor

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